1. Field of the Invention
This application describes and claims an apparatus for producing photographic prints from digital photographic images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Photographic printers, or “mini-labs,” are used to produce photographic prints on photographic paper from a photographic negative. Typically photographic negatives are formed at discrete locations on a continuous web of film when the film is exposed in a camera and subsequently developed. The web of film carrying the negatives is then placed in a photographic printer between a light source and the photographic paper. The photographic negative allows light from the light source to pass through the negative that corresponds to the inverse of the image on the negative. The photographic paper is thus exposed to the light, which is the first step in forming a photographic image on the photographic paper. The photographic printer mechanically engages the web of film and mechanically advances it sequentially through a series of neighboring negatives. Film and film processing represent a significant cost of photography. Mechanical handling of film adds even more cost and complexity to photographic print production.
In recent years, cameras have become available that do not use film, and thus reduce the cost and the complexity of photography to the photographer. Such cameras, commonly referred to as “digital cameras,” store photographic images electronically. Although digital cameras have grown in popularity, the quality of the images captures by such cameras, and the prints produced therefrom, has been generally been inferior to those produced by film-based cameras. The lower image quality is partly due to the abrupt transition from one neighboring image capturing element, called a “pixel,” to the next. One trend to improve digital photographic images has been to increase the resolution, measured by the number of pixels used to capture the image. As the density of pixels increases, the transition from one pixel to the next becomes less noticeable to the eye, and the image quality improves.
While digital cameras eliminate the need for film, the process of producing photographic prints from electronically stored photographic images is more complex than film-based print production, in part because standard mini-labs are not capable of handling digital photographic images. Currently such images are printed by individual photographers using a computer and associated peripheral equipment, e.g., a color printer. The cost of buying a computer and the associated peripheral equipment to print digital photographic images from the digital camera is prohibitive. While digital mini-labs could be produced for photographic printing services, such mini-labs would be extremely expensive, would not be capable of processing film-based negatives, and would not make use of existing mini-lab equipment.